The Overlap
by AkuTaco
Summary: Original title DA01: New Threats Alex Allwell & 6 friends, through a strange, seemingly random incident, are pulled into a Digital World parallel to their home. Now they must fix the fray that brought Taichi Yagami into their universe, and get back home.


**Prologue**

Alex Allwell had never considered herself the smartest or the bravest, nor did she think of herself as the prettiest, though she was by no means the hag that she saw of herself. Most people considered her charmingly beautiful. There was a look in her eye that suggested something more than the reserved demeanor she presented to the rest of the world. She kept her long brown hair either pulled back or curled. Nature had blessed her with straight, silky locks, but when asked about it, she simply said it bored her to let it fall limply against her head.

Alex also didn't see herself as particularly successful. She had a talent for the creative, whether drawing, writing, or anything else she could do within her mind, but she never sought to develop it. She did not seek much of anything, in fact.

She was not the most unfortunate of girls. Her parents were divorced, which was a messy situation at the time. But for the most part, she didn't bother to pay attention to the whole ordeal. Whatever her parents said to each other was their business, and whatever they said to her could only be considered temporary insanity brought on by stress. That's how she tried to see things anyway.

Sitting in the bakery across the street from the high school was how Alex wasted time before beginning the short journey home. A couple of kolaches and a coke were often the perfect source of energy, which would be wasted when she finally arrived at her apartment and fell onto her bed to pass the hours with sleep, games, or whatever else occupied her brain so that she wouldn't have the displeasure of her own thoughts.

"Hey Alex, what was the assignment for web design?" She also was not the most popular girl in the ninth grade, but she had her own set of friends. Greg Fullworth, who was a year older than she, was a technophile. He loved anything related to gadgetry and coding. He spent his spare time inventing programs, and he was good at it. With the help of his father, he had already set up a little business. Of course, it was nothing major, but it was paying for his interests, since his scholarships and college funds could not be touched.

Greg's only problem was his height. Of course, he didn't care about the measurement itself, but it did bother him that most of the girls in his class passed him off as the "geeky cutey" with gray eyes and blond hair. They liked him, but they never liked him enough. "Oh, we have to diagram the site outline and organization. Mr. Crost said we'd be making a few page designs in class, too. Coming up with ideas for the school site, I think," Alex replied.

"Man, I know the year is just beginning, but this is Web II and that's the most we're doing?" Greg was already far beyond basic site design, but the school did not offer any level higher than that.

"Well, I'm not saying you suck or anything, but you should look at this as an opportunity to get better at your design principles." Alex purposely kept her gaze away from the eyes of her fellow seeker of solitude.

"Wait a second, what's that supposed to mean?" Greg said impatiently. His designs were spectacular at all times.

"Nothing! It's just that sometimes your sites are really confusing. I know you like using every code you know, but the average user is not going to have any fucking clue as to what you're trying to show with your site. And that includes the people you're trying to sell your skills to," Alex cringed as Greg put on a look that suggested he had been struck by an arrow. She remembered the last time she went to his house. He had gone to take a shower, so she sat in the computer room helping his dad alter the final designs Greg had made, mostly by asking what the site was even meant to do.

"You're a very blunt person, Alex," a voice from behind pointed out. Alex turned to see a girl of the sophomore class with blond hair streaked with pink. She was not quite as tall as Greg, who topped out at five foot three himself. Alex towered over both of them at nearly five foot eight.

"Well, you're a music freak. We've all got our quirks," Alex replied with a shrug.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just insulted our dear Lana," Greg said with a mean look.

"Well then you obviously don't know any better. Being a music freak isn't a bad thing."

"Well then, thanks for the compliment, hun," Lana replied. "Speaking of music, I'm playin' at a coffee house this Saturday. You guys wanna come?"

Greg and Alex exchanged glances. Lana Stone was a good friend to the both of them, but their time was often spent sitting in front of their respective computers avoiding the companionship of real people.

For Alex, it wasn't a case of hating people or poor social skills. Alex loved laughing and making people laugh. It was much nicer to share a joke among friends than to watch a comedy show or read the funnies all by yourself. She loved to do it. But there was always a crushing fear that she would say or do something and suddenly be shunned. So, she took care of that problem by simply avoiding any situation in which that was a possible outcome.

Greg had other reasons. In fact, he never made commitments of any kind. He was easily buried in his own work. He would lose himself for hours in whatever he did and had ruined more than a few friendships by not being where he was supposed to be. Greg liked his friends very much, and as such he chose not to accept invitations to anything. He only gave them out to the few friends that stuck around.

"I'm not takin' no for an answer. I'll drag you both out of your houses if I have to!" Alex made a face of mock-irritation and stuck her tongue out. "You guys owe me! I went to your stupid convention, and you missed my first show. If you aren't there without a damn good reason, I will totally slaughter the both of you. I'm not kidding!"

Lana's huffy expression caused the pair of slackers to stifle their laughter. "This is not funny!" Lana yelled again. Alex swung her arm over her friend's shoulder.

"Ok, I'll come, but I'll need a ride. Can that boyfriend of yours pick me up?" she asked.

"Yeah, but the car will be pretty crowded. One of his friends, Allen Aspins or whatever, is coming with us, and so is my sister. She said she might be bringing a friend," Lana warned.

"Oh god, do you mean Allen Astin? That guy is such a lame-ass. Please tell me I'm wrong?" Alex begged. She and Allen were not on the best of terms.

"Yeah, I think that's who it is. Why, what's wrong with him?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with me?" the trio turned to examine the voice that had spoken up from another table. Apparently Allen had walked into the bakery without their noticing.

Allen could be considered the cream of the freshman crop by the standards of many flighty, young lasses. He was athletic, popular, and well-endowed in more ways than one. His family owned a chain of restaurants throughout the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area, and he took immense pride in that when he was younger. He didn't much care about the restaurants now. Aside from that, he was thought of as a "bad boy." He could be spotted alongside older crowds, partying with the best of them. There were many rumors that he dealt drugs back in junior high, which Alex could attest to.

"Um, you're an asshole?" Alex felt her nerves rising up.

"Oh, come on. That was a million years ago! What's the big deal?" Allen was not completely oblivious to what he had done.

Alex stood up and bade her friends goodbye, "I really don't want to deal with you right now, Allen. I'll see you guys at the coffee house." Without another word, she started on the walk home, secure in the fact that she would have Friday entirely to herself thanks to the promise of Columbus Day weekend. Four glorious days without school. What could be better?

Allen sat down in the now vacant seat of the still occupied table. Greg said nothing, but glared at Allen. He was not predisposed to like his friends' enemies.

Several minutes passed by with Lana and Greg conversing amongst themselves. Still, Allen remained in the seat he had dropped into. "So what happened between you two?" Lana asked when it became obvious that he was not going to disappear.

"I don't even know. We used to be cool with each other back in junior high. We were almost best friends, actually. I really don't know what the fuck happened. Max used to say she thought I was into her, but I really don't know what woulda given her that idea," Allen replied with a frown.

"Did you perhaps do something to give her that impression?" Greg asked pointedly.

"What the fuck, man? Didn't I just say-" Allen stopped himself from finishing that sentence as he realized how long he had been sitting there. When Lana had asked what happened, he had been too busy thinking to realize the he was also talking. But at that point, all he could do was drop the subject. "You know what? This shit is none of y'all's fuckin' business, so I'm gonna stop talking and get the fuck outta here." Allen stood up so forcefully that he knocked the chair over. He grabbed the back of it and stood it up. "And for your fuckin' piece of mind, no, I didn't try to do anything with her." Without another word, he pushed the door of the bakery open and walked out to greet a friend across the street.

Greg and Lana sat in silence for a few moments. Lana could see that Greg was seething. She herself could see how Alex might have gained her impression of Allen. "Anyway! What about you? Can you make it to the show?" she asked in the hopes of distracting the angry geek stewing in the seat next to her.

Greg looked up indecisively. "Yeah, I'll come. My dad should be able to take me. What time does it start?"

- - - - -

Susan turned the page of her book as she sat out in the court yard of her junior high school. The eighth grade class was looked at as a grade of young souls, but Susan was often considered the great exception. While others of her grade were working from child to teen, she came off as an adult. She didn't go boy crazy at the sight of the newest hotty in a band, nor did she pay attention to trendy fashions. When other students were breaking into the social scene, she was breaking into the latest bit of social commentary.

Susan was a natural blond, but she preferred to dye her hair. She was not an attention seeker, but she did have a slightly rebellious streak, something her parents attributed to their own youth. However they did not like the idea of her coming home early because her hair was bright green, and they restricted her use of dyes until the school got off its high horse. When they finally did, Susan went to the nearest salon and died her hair a pale shade of pink, so as not to look too outlandish.

In spite of her disinterest in the usual social norms, she was fairly popular at her school. People weren't chomping at the bits to spend time with her, but she was well known and well liked. Still, there were very few people that actually commanded her attention, and none of them were searching for it out of a desire to be important. That's part of what she liked about her real friends. They, like her, were not status seekers.

"Hey, Sookie. You got plans for this Saturday?" Eric Walters jumped over the stone bench and took a seat next to Susan. He was one of those friends. He was a huge bundle of energy, and like Susan, he was considered one of those popular kids. However, he was not unwillingly so. He was somewhat of an actor. He had participated in every school play since preschool, and was even in a local children's theater troupe.

A lot of guys thought this meant Eric was destined to be gay. Eric, however, was perfectly heterosexual. Because most of the boys were so concerned with appearing straight (whether they were or not is completely irrelevant to social appearances, of course), they refused to hang out with young Eric. Which was great for the gray haired youth. He very much enjoyed the company of lady friends, and not always in the most innocent sense. When being teased by these more "masculine" boys, he often countered with, "At least I know what third base is." Their confused glares were the best part of his little joke, although the quip was becoming less effective by this point.

"As a matter of fact, I do have plans. Lana is doing a show at the coffee house on Saturday," Susan replied as she marked her place in her book.

"Cool. You mind if I tag along? I've never seen your sister play before. Is she any good?" Eric asked.

"Glad to be your back up. Did you and Jess get into a fight or something?" Susan smirked.

Eric laughed. No matter how good his acting skills were, he never seemed to get anything past Susan. She always knew exactly what was happening around her. Eric and another friend had actually performed a little experiment to see how she was getting her information. They had forgotten about it until Susan asked them how their project had gone.

"Yeah, and now she doesn't want me to take her to the dance anymore, so my weekend is completely free. You believe that? I mean, all I said was I thought she was wearing too much eye liner. Is that bad?" he asked truly stumped.

Susan giggled, "At least you didn't tell her how big her ass is. She seriously needs to wear her size instead of trying to fit into those threes." Susan was not one for making fun of people, but she didn't ever have a problem making fun of Eric's girlfriends. Most of her jokes would go over their heads anyway. "Anyway, yeah, it'd be great if you could come. It's gonna be most of her friends from the high school. I don't know many people my own age who are gonna be there. I think there's gonna be a party afterwards too, but she won't let me come to that, so it'd be cool to have someone to hang out with afterwards."

"Maybe I'll spend the night again. We can have another Soul Calibur marathon," Eric suggested. "Possibly influenced by our friend Mary Jane."

"You're such a pot head," Susan replied with a shake of the head.

"At least I'm not doing crack or anything that stupid," Eric replied with a frown. Susan watched him for a moment, as if not doing hard drugs somehow made the constant use of other drugs lesser offenses.

"Come by my house around five thirty. Mike is driving us all over to the coffee house."

- - - - -

The SUV pulled into the coffee house with music blasting. As the group piled out of the car, Greg stepped away from the wall of the building to greet his companions. "Hey! I didn't think you were gonna show up!" Alex said, running to her friend with a look of obvious relief on her face. As Allen approached the entrance of the building, he let out a breath that carried his irritation with it into the air.

Lana carried an acoustic guitar case and a notebook of lyrics as she moved to greet her friend. A young man of about seventeen walked up behind her and slipped his hand around her waist. He had a fairly athletic build, and his bright red hair contrasted with the dark sunglasses perched on the tip of his nose. Not to mention the fact that he was at least two feet taller than the girl he embraced.

Greg bristled at the sight of him, pushing his own glasses up on his nose nervously. "Hey, Lana," he said with a wave.

"Hey Greg! I don't think you two have met. This is Mike. And this is my little sister Susan and-" Lana was cut off before she could finish introductions.

"Jesus, is there a bathroom anywhere around here?" Eric asked excitedly, trying to hold his bladder.

"And this is my friend Eric," Susan finished with a grin. Eric groaned as he ran inside to find the nearest toilet.

Alex laughed as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her purse, intent on having one before heading inside. "I didn't know you smoke," Mike said with surprise. "Do you mind if I bum one off ya?"

"That's not healthy guys," Greg said with a wide gesture. For some reason, it seemed imperative that he point that out in front of Lana, who was unconcerned by the request Mike had just made. She and her sister were already walking inside.

"Yeah, well, neither is sitting in front of a computer all day, but we seem just fine with that," Alex responded casually as she handed a cigarette off to Mike. "Besides, it's not like I smoke constantly. I usually only have one or two a day."

"Completely irrelevant!" Greg yelled back worriedly. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I don't complain when you ask me where you can get an ounce, so don't bother me about cigarettes. That's pretty hypocritical." Greg glared, obviously surprised by how much information Alex would divulge in front of perfect strangers. "Oh don't you glare at me just because I'm right."

Lana peered out from the entrance of the coffee house, "What're y'all waitin' for? We've only got, like an hour to sit around and gossip before they start lettin' people into the show room."

Alex tossed down her cigarette and followed Greg and Mike inside.

- - - - -

"Holy shit, did you actually get a haircut?!" was the first thing Taichi Yagami heard as he walked into the concert hall where Yamato's performance was to take place. Not only from one of his adventurous friends, but as a chorus of voices- like a cosmic opening to the musical skills his friend would soon be portraying. A small blue dragon actually fainted from the shock of it.

"Man, I was sure Hikari would spill the beans before I even got here. Or at least Davis would," Taichi responded with a laugh.

"No way. I just couldn't resist seeing look on everyone's faces," Hikari replied with a conspiratorial smirk.

"You know," Yamato began to muse has his hand slipped around Sora's waist. "I always figured you'd ask one of us for help before you finally chopped all that hair off. Like, professional help. I think you needed it."

"Hardy har har," Tai replied dismissively. He ran a hand through his shortened hair. "You know, I never noticed how cold it is this time of year before. I'm freezing."

"I suddenly appreciate my hair a lot more," Daisuke said, as his own locks were equally unruly and growing still bigger.

"Well, there's still a lot more you're going to learn to appreciate."

The entire group turned with surprise to a voice that was rarely heard but always welcome. Well, as welcome as a voice that brings bad news can be.

Gennai stood before them in his characteristic white robe, a grave expression as his only accessory to the outfit.

"Don't tell me you're here to spoil our fun," Takeru begged the question. Gennai frowned.

"Yes and no. I'm never trying to spoil anybody's fun, but there is something important that needs dealing with," he said. "And also, I'd like to see Yamato play."

"So, obviously this isn't that important. You just wanted to see us, you ol' coot," Jyou, who was rarely able to turn out for these occasions, accused.

"No, not such. It's not that it isn't important, but it's disturbing. Even still, we don't need everyone to go. Even just one of you will do to check it out," Gennai explained.

"What exactly is it?" Taichi asked. He was not particularly excited by watching Yamato play, nor by watching Sora gush over his rival's talents. "I'll check it out if you only need one person."

Takeru was visibly irritated at being beaten to the punch. Taichi, however, was not concerned. Takeru would hold a grudge for a long time, but he'd get over it. "Well, that'll do it, but the problem is we have no idea what it is. Originally, we thought it was a portal to the real world that needed to be closed. However, after analysis, it almost appears as if it opens up into some part of the Digital World. There's a bit of a view, but when we check the coordinates, it didn't match up. The coordinates point to a desert on Server, but the view clearly shows a plain. It just doesn't fit."

"So you need someone to do a little recon?" Daisuke asked.

"Exactly. Nothing extravagant. Just hop in, look around, and hop right back out. We've built up a solid portal to hold the anomaly open for the time being, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting back."

"The word 'shouldn't' concerns me," Hikari said, standing up a little straighter.

"Well, it shouldn't. The only way anything could go wrong is if the portal were somehow damaged. And that will be impossible. We've got a whole team of Perfect level digimon volunteering to guard the portal," Gennai assured. Hikari remained the skeptic, but that was natural. This was her brother's very existence they were talking about.

"Yamato, you're on in five," the stage manager called.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys after the show," Taichi said with a wave as Gennai opened a portal into the Digital World. "Hey, Yamato. Make sure you snag me some of that underwear the ladies'll be throwin' onstage," he winked. He would've been much less casual had he known just how long he'd be gone.

- - - - -

"You know, nothing ever sounds as stupid in your head as it does out loud," Mike said in apology of his own commentary.

"Except telling people how stupid the things you say are," Greg said under his breath. Mike had actually told a very funny, if not slightly inappropriate story. This only irritated Greg because the red headed youth apologized for everything he said. An action made even more galling by the fact that it was entirely unnecessary.

Alex elbowed Greg warningly. She had out a small notepad that she kept in her purse in case of emergency note-taking. She handed a small, folded slip of paper to her friend as she spoke, "You know, I find that everything I say is going to sound stupid eventually, so there's not really much cause to apologize for it. Unless, of course, you say something so glaring and obviously stupid. Then you should just put a kick me sign on your own back. But you know, I don't think you've said anything that stupid."

_Hey, if I can be nice with Allen around, you can certainly stop being such an ass to Mike. What's you're problem with him anyway?_

Greg grabbed the pen that Alex held in her hand and wrote out a quick apology, but said no more. He couldn't really explain it very well, and he didn't think she'd understand anyway.

Alex shrugged, and made no attempt to force an answer out of him after that.

"That was a really good show you put on, Lana. What was that third song you played called?" Allen asked cordially. He wasn't really a music buff, but loved hearing people play live, especially people he knew.

"It's called 'Kids These Days.' It's a cover though. I take no credit. In fact, I give credit to Mike for findin' it. The band that used to play it broke up, but he knows the guy that wrote it. He's, like, the most amazin' thing on stage that I've ever seen."

"Whoever. You did a great job up there. I think I would've peed myself if I'd been up there," Alex agreed.

"No you wouldn't. You're an attention whore and you don't even know it. Why do you think your voice gets so loud when you actually have something to say? Admit it," Lana laughed back. Alex laughed in dry disagreement.

"Whatevs, my friend," was the only comment she could return with. It was half-admission.

Suddenly, the group went quiet. The room stilled, as if everyone in the venue had been frozen. In fact, upon looking around, the group noticed that everyone in the room was frozen. One boy who had tossed his hat into the air was rendered stationary mid catch, the hat suspended in air by no visible means.

"I've suddenly got the willies," Mike remarked.

"What the fuck is that?" Allen gasped before anyone had to a chance to respond. At the center of the stage- where Lana had just been sitting, in fact- there seemed to be a strange glint or glitter. It was as if the world were warping and twisting in just that spot. After a few moments of wrestling, there was a noise like a POP followed by a loud tearing sound.

The gathered friends watched in terror as the hole opened wider and wider. It looked bigger at every moment. But more than that, they could see into this hole, and it wasn't just empty space. It almost looked like a field was laying just beyond the edge.

"Maybe the rapt---" Mike began to say, but it was almost as if his words were sucked into that place before he could even get them out. Susan tried to scream as Eric's body began to warp, began to slide into the hole like he was nothing more than liquid being pulled by the gravity of that place. But the sound of her voice- and she too- was being sucked into that place.

Allen stood as if to run, but even lifting himself up caused him to lose his balance.

Greg tried to grab onto something, to hold himself out of harms way. He grabbed at his chair, which seemed entirely unaffected by the pull of this warping space, but it wasn't enough. He couldn't hold onto it. He made one last futile effort, grabbing at his bag sitting on the floor, but it lifted easily from the ground, and it was pulled along with him. Alex had tried a similar approach, but her purse came with just as little resistance.

No one had been able to hold themselves from what was to come.


End file.
